Fortress Italy: Racial Politics and the New Immigration Amendment in Italy
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Fordham International Law Journal Volume 26, Issue 5 2002 Article 2 Fortress Italy: Racial Politics and the New Immigration Amendment in Italy Michele Totah∗ ∗ Copyright c 2002 by the authors. Fordham International Law Journal is produced by The Berke- ley Electronic Press (bepress). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj Fortress Italy: Racial Politics and the New Immigration Amendment in Italy Michele Totah Abstract This Comment explores, using a framework of international human rights, how discrimina- tion affected the passing of the Bossi Fini amendment to the Italian immigration law. Part I of this Comment discusses the international human rights norms established by several significant fundamental human rights treaties relevant to immigration issues. Part I also briefly discusses the history of Italian immigration legislation, and examines the radicalization of the immigration dis- course in Italy. Part II surveys some important provisions of the new Bossi Fini amendment. Part III argues that the Bossi Fini amendment violates the asylum, expulsion, and non-discrimination human rights provisions discussed in Part I. Part III also posits that the underlying basis for the in- crease in restrictive immigration legislation lies in Italy’s prevalent racist and xenophobic attitudes, and argues that though facially neutral, the Bossi Fini law has a disparate impact on immigrants of color. COMMENT FORTRESS ITALY: RACIAL POLITICS AND THE NEW IMMIGRATION AMENDMENT IN ITALY Michele Totah* We need a law that can deal with these invasions, otherwise crime will continue to rise and Italian culture will be threatened ... People who come to Italy must come to work. We will make illegal immigra- tion a serious crime... Stop treating illegal immigrants like normal people. Only people who have got work contracts can come in. And we need more cops on the borders, helicopters. In America they shoot at illegal immigrants.' INTRODUCTION On July 11, 2002, the Italian Parliament passed a controver- sial amendment to the Italian immigration law, entitled "Bossi Fini. 2 Until recently, Italy was considered a country of emigra- tion and was impervious to problems related to immigration.3 * J.D. Candidate, 2004, Fordham University School of Law, Managing Editor, vol. XXVII. I would like to thank the ILJ Editors of vol. XXVI for their continuous support while I wrote this Comment, my friends and family for all their patience and sugges- tions; and to my mother, di dedico ilmio primo articolo. All translations are mine. 1. Intervista con Umberto Bossi, LA STAMPA, June 6, 2002, at B3 (quoting Umberto Bossi, Italy's Prime Minister for institutional reforms, at rally held in early summer of 2002); see Daniel Williams, Italy, Too, T7ies the Hard Line; Violent Crime, Immigration in the Political Spotlight, WAsm. PosT, May 18, 2002 (comparing Bossi's actions to "zero toler- ance" model used in United States). Scholars note that Bossi's statement foreshadowed changes to Italy's immigration law under the Bossi Fini amendment, passed by the Ital- ian Parliament on July 11, 2002. Id. 2. See La legge Bossi Finipunto per punto, CORRIERE DELLA SERA,July 12, 2002 (noting that Bossi Fini passed on July 11, 2002 sparking heated debates regarding constitution- ality of law); see also Profile: Berlusconi's Allies - BBC News Online Profiles Silvio Berlusconi's controversial right-wing coalition partners Umberto Bossi and Gianfranco Fini (May 4, 2001) avaliable at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1313113.stm (describing history of Italian politicians, Bossi and Fini) [hereinafter Berlusconi's Allies]. The Amendment is named after Umberto Bossi, Leader of the Northern League and Minister for Institu- tional Reform and Devolution, and Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini, head of the National Alliance, and successor of Benito Mussolini's Fascist movement. Id. 3. SeeJOANNA APAP, THE RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANT WOKERS IN THF EUROPEAN UNION 139 (2002) (noting that between 1871, when Italy became a Nation State, and 1971, twenty five million Italians left Italy). The author also notes that migratory history in 1438 2003] FORTRESS ITALY 1439 However, following the tightening of visa restrictions in North- ern Europe and Italy's economic revitalization, immigration 4 has increased dramatically.5 Scholars have offered numerous rea- sons to explain the surge of immigration in Italy, which include long coastlines that are difficult to patrol;6 proximity to Eastern Europe and Northern Africa;7 and an increase in refugees and asylum seekers fleeing to Italy to escape poverty, political repres- sion, and instability.8 Additionally, Italy has many available jobs, Italy is crucial to understanding and evaluating the emerging immigration legislation and policy. Id.; see also Maria Carella & R. Pace, Some MigrationDynamics Specific to South- ern Europe: South North and East West Axis, 39(4) INT'L MIGRATION REV. at 66-67 (2001) (attributing Albanian crisis in Italy to lack of experience in dealing with immigration); David Christensen, Leaving Back Door Open: Italy's Response to Illegal Immigration, 11 GEO. IMMIGR. L.J. 461, 462 (1997) (describing Italy's policy problems relating to new rise in immigration); E. De Filippo & Enrico Pugliese, Le Nuove Migrazioni Internazionali e i Modelli Migratori nei Paesi del Sud Europa, in MEDITERRANEO 49-71 Uuly-Sept. 1996) (dis- cussing Italian and Southern European models of migration as impervious to immigra- tion-related problems); see generally MAURIZIO AMBROSINI, IMMIGRAZIONE STRANIERA IN ITALIA: DALLA CONOSCEN7A ALL'INTERVENTO SOCIALE (1991) (describing social policies developed to address new issues arising from rise in immigration). 4. See THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (Elspeth Guild ed., 1999) (providing definition of immigrant as one who moves to another country and resides there for more than three months). For the purposes of this paper, "immigrant" will be defined as one who moves to another country and resides there for more than three months. In the case of non-European Union ("EU") nationals, three months is the cut-off point whereby a visitor becomes an immigrant and a residence permit is required. Id. This does not mean that the immigrant will not return to his country of origin. Id. Many immigrants in Italy are seasonal workers or come to Italy for three to six months to work every year and return to their home countries. Id. 5. See THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION, supra n.4, at 110 (noting exponential increase in immigration to Italy in recent years); see also Thomas Straubhaar, Allocation and Distribu- tional Aspects of Future Immigration to Western Europe, 26 INT'L MIGRATION REV. 462 (1992) (tracing increased migration to Western Europe in 1980s and 1990s to variety of factors including labor shortages in host Nation). 6. See Guido Bolaffi, Redesigning Italy: The New Flow of Immigration, 4 IND. INT'L & COMP. L. REV. 291, 291 (noting long coastlines are difficult to patrol and attract immi- grants but other obstacles to controlling immigration are more serious). 7. See Christensen, supra n.3, at 463 (noting that Italy's proximity to immigration- sending Nations of North Africa makes policing borders difficult). 8. See BIMAL GHOsH, HUDDLED MASSES AND UNCERTAIN SHORES - INSIGHTS INTO IRREGULAR MIGRATION 37-42, 51-55 (1998) (describing push factors as poverty and polit- ical instability in home countries of immigrants and pull factors as labor demand in receiving countries); see also Mauro Fasti, Italian Immigration and Refugee Law, in IMMi- GRATION, ASYLUM AND NATIONALITY LAW 15, at 18 (2001) (stating that extreme poverty and human rights violations are examples of push factors and expanding labor market is example of pull factor). Scholars also point to geographic proximity to North Africa and Eastern Europe, as well as willingness of immigrants to accept jobs that Italians are 1440 FORDHAMIN"ERNATIONAL LAWJOURNAL [Vol. 26:1438 particularly in the tertiary or service sector, due to its low birth rate.9 Despite the need for immigrants to fill jobs that Italians refuse to accept, scholars have characterized the attitudes to- wards immigrants as racist and reflective of the European-wide rise in anti-immigrant sentiment."1 In response to the influx of immigrants1 on Italy's shores, the government enacted the con- troversial Bossi Fini amendment to the current immigration law to deal with the perceived "state of emergency." 12 unwilling to take because they are precarious or poorly regarded as reasons for in- creased migration. Id. Additionally, scholars mention the employers' need for this type of work and their willingness to take advantage of immigrants who will accept lower salaries because of their social vulnerability, particularly if they are illegal. Id. 9. See Gavin Jones, Survey Italy, FIN. TIMES (London),July 22, 2002, at 6 (quoting Guidalberto Guidi, head of Confindustria, one of Italy's largest industries, saying Italian industry cannot survive without help of immigrant workers). The average is one child per woman in Italy, a number the Catholic Church and statisticians argue is not enough to maintain a labor force. Id. It must be added that immigration to Italy today is essen- tially economic migration. Id. Italy's market, as Livia Turco, ex Social Affairs Minister in the former Italian government and drafter of previous Turco-Napolitano immigra- tion law, proclaims, needs this migration to survive. Id. Bossi Fini eliminates the idea of a sponsorship and many employers are unwilling to give a work contract to a person without "seeing their face." Id.; see also Confindustria, L 'immigrazioneextra-communitaria e II Mercato del Lavoro ltaliano (1990) (explaining Italy's need for unskilled migrant work- ers to satisfy labor demand); Alessandra Venturini, II Mercato del Lavoro e ilLavoratori Extraeuropei: Una Lettura Economica, in ECONOMIA E DIRIrro 6, 359, 362-71 (2001) (pro- viding statistical and economic data on situation of immigrant workers in Italian labor market).